Analysis of Legal and Ethical Frameworks in UK Tourism (UBC)

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UNIT 8 LEGISLATION AND ETHICS IN TRAVEL AND
TOURISM SECTOR {UBC}

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
LO1 Discuss the regulatory and legal framework in travel and tourism sector.........................4
1.1 Provide legal and regulatory framework of the travel and tourism sector.......................4
1.2 Illustrate surface, sea and air transport law with respect to the passengers......................4
LO2 Brief the legislation and regulations related to health, security and safety in the tourism
sector..........................................................................................................................................2
2.1 Evaluation of the principles of health, safety and security in tourism sector...................2
2.2 Analysing the legislation related to equality....................................................................3
LO3 Describe consumer protection legislation........................................................................5
3.1 Illustrate contract legislation in relation to the customers in tourism sector..................5
3.2 Explaining consumer protection legislation in relation to the customers.......................5
LO4 Illustrating the role of business ethics in the travel sector...............................................7
4.1 Provide ethical dilemmas faced by them..........................................................................8
4.2 Analysing the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy of a specified travel and
tourism business.....................................................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

Introduction
Tourism can be defined as the act of travelling due to any purpose such as business, pleasure,
leisure or other services. Nowadays, tourism has become an important factor and acts as a
catalyst to the socio-economic development of any country, state or nation. In this context,
the UK tourism sector has been taken into consideration. Therefore, based on this travel and
tourism sector, the company ‘Thomas Cook’ will be referred and followed in this assignment.
The different ethical consideration regarding this company of travel and tourism sector will
be discussed in this assignment. The legal framework and laws regarding to sea, surface and
air transport have been discussed. In addition, a brief discussion regarding health and security
and the ethical dilemmas faced by this organisation is included in this assignment. Consumer
protection legislation and their relation with the tourism sector is also mentioned briefly.
Leaflets and management reports are provided to justify this assignment.

LO1 Discuss the regulatory and legal framework in travel and tourism
sector
1.1 Provide legal and regulatory framework of the travel and tourism sector
1.2 Illustrate surface, sea and air transport law with respect to the passengers

in
Leaflet
LO1 Discuss the regulatory framework in UK tourism sector
Tourism law follows framework, which is governed by travel
organisations, agencies and airport authorities. It involves of health and
safety, consumer protection, environmental protection, contract law and
planning.
1.1 Provide regulatory and legal framework regarding UK travel and
tourism sector
Eventually, tourism practices consists of suppliers, consumers, sellers,
business organisations, hospitality management and contracts. For
instance- if a restaurant supplies food then the management involves of
hospitality, standard of the quality and consumer behaviour, which are
governed by the government. The tourism legislation involves of the
following behaviour towards the consumers for their business (Scott et al.
2016). Therefore, an organisation needs to prepare the training materials,
which consists of the following legislations. They are:
● Transports acts 1980 and 1985- This act was held for the
termination of the licensing law, which affected the routes as
well as tours of the tourism business. It also involved in the de-
regularising of the route systems by considering private buses
that operated all the routes.
● Development of Tourism Act, 1969- It was introduced by the
British Tourist authority in order to focus on the coordination
within an organisation (Pyke et al. 2016).
Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations,
1992- It is aiming at establishing the responsibilities of the tour operators
towards the consumers and provide them with sufficient remedies. The
primary objectives to include these in the training materials, which are:
● They need standard procedures
● They want to establish the obligations and rights of the people
and the organisations.
● They focus on developing tourism in a regulated manner.
● Strategic Rail Authority- This authority is better known in dividing the
railway sector into two parts namely the Rolling Stock Companies and
the Rail Track.
Therefore, the legislation framework works in a legal way to operate the travel and
tourism business. Thus, it creates laws and rules that are to be followed by every
travel and tourism sector operating in the UK (Miller, 2016). The legal framework is
the system of rules, which are governed in decision-making and regulatory
framework is the system that abide by the codified legislations over the travel and
tourism sector.
1.2 Illustrate surface, sea and air transport law with respect to the passengers
According to (Joshi et al. 2017), the word ‘carrier’ defines a person who is involved
with a contract of carriage whereas, a ‘passenger’ means a person who is carried in a
ship. On the other hand, ‘luggage’ refers to the materials or articles, which are carried
by any vehicle such as air, water or surface transports vehicle. Hence, the sea, surface
and air transport law can be further describes as the following on the perspective of
the passengers. They are:
● Surface Law- As evident, the International Carriage of Passenger by
Road Act, 1979, governs the surface law. This law protects and
formulates the passengers, who are on board travelling to some other
places. If any harm occurs to the passengers then they are provided with
instant remedies under this law. The remedies are provided if there is any
damage faced by the passengers or they under any mental or physical
disorders on board. In addition, the loss of luggage falls under this law for
the benefit of the passengers (Mathew and Sreejesh, 2017). Henceforth,
the railway privatization focuses on the contribution of development
along with integration of the transport of passengers and goods. In also
includes safeguard towards the disabled persons present on board.
● The International Maritime Organisation
undertook sea Law- Safety and security in ships
and other functions related to shipping. It
regulates the functions related to the environmental
factors, which were involved in the functioning of
the ships. Nonetheless, the Athens Convention, 1974
helped in governing the damages, which were
suffered by the passengers on a ferry or ship
(Laitamaki eta l. 2016). Further, The International
Convention for the Safety of life at Sea (SOLAS)
helps in regulating the functions related to the
protections taken during fire, life saving equipments
such as a sea craft that can hold at least 12
passengers and the fire fighting skills of the
crewmembers who are present on the ship in case of
any mishap.
Therefore, these laws ensure safety and security to the
passengers with respect with respect to the travel and tourism
sector.

Leaflet
1.1
On the other hand, regulations that can affect
the tourism business of the organisation and
the organisations in the UK are as follows:
● International Air Transport
Association- This association is
situated in Montreal and facilitates the
establishment of various policies and
standards for the travel and tourism
business of the UK.
● Civil Aviation Authority- This
authority requires the updating of
regulations and laws with respect to
the airspace usage and aviation safety
(Moutinho and Vargas-Sanchez,
2018).
Health and Safety Commission- They
require the updated laws and regulations,
which are required in safety
1.2
 Air Law- The air law includes
more legislation than the
surface or sea law. Air law is
maintained by the Warsaw
Convention held in 1929 that
defined international carriage
and laid down rules for the air
transport with reference to the
passengers. Claiming
compensation was made
passengers right regarding any
death or injury.
A luggage checking system was
organised at the beginning of
the journey in order to maintain
the safety measures towards all
the other passengers (Jones et
al. 2016). Later on, the
Montreal Conference replaced
the Warsaw Convention in
1999. It was replaced by one
single patchwork during the
whole procedure.
Eventually, The Five Freedoms
Agreement, 1944 was involved with
regulations that referred to flying
within and across the respective
territory without any obligations such
as landing for non-traffic purposes,
normal landing, cargo or mail,
destined from the given territory or
putting down the passengers (Hindley
and Font, 2017). Nevertheless, The
Denied Boarding Compensation
Schemes, 1997 raised protection
standards for the passengers travelling
through air and ensured them with
proper and satisfying operations of
their carriers.

Executive Summary
In this report, the regulations followed and legislation maintained regarding health and safety
as well as security has been included. The different ways of maintaining these regulations
with respect to the tourism sector is also discussed. Evaluating the principles related to health
and safety are looked through the Health and Safety Commission for this report. Equality law
has been taken into notice while the report was made. The working of the Health and Safety
Commission has been penned down in this report. This management report consists of every
small detail followed by the UK based tour operator in order to prepare their training sessions
have been clarified.

LO2 Regulations and legislations regarding security, health and safety in
tourism business
The primary work and the main intention of the legislators are regulating the development of
travel and tourism through introducing certain criteria of practices regarding tourism. It is
done by determining the obligations and rights that involves the people related with travel
and tourism industry.
2.1 Principles relative to health, safety and security in UK tourism sector
The Health and Safety Commission deals with the rules and regulations that make it reliable
for the employees to go with their duties accordingly. It also keeps a review and approaches
with new research whenever required. This Commission functions on three major options.
They are as follows:
● Approved Codes of Practice- These codes help in laying down the structure to
match with the law practically. A reliable legal standing is included with these as a
part of the legislations (Hassan, 2016). In addition, the ACOP is used to create and set
out codes for the working practices and hazardous materials under the employer’s
liability. Therefore, under these circumstances the duties followed by the employer,
can be categorised as the following:
1. First-aid Provisions
2. Heating and lighting
3. Accident-prone working environment
Similarly, the duties followed by the employee are as follows:
1. Attending training sessions
2. Preventing accidents
3. Reporting actual or potential hazards
● Guidance- Firstly, the Health and Safety Commission needs guidance to aware the
people about the legislations and help them in following easily without any hesitation
(Dabic et al. 2016). Secondly, they help in providing technical guidance with respect
to the legislations.
● Regulations- The foremost duty of the employer is to look after the safety of their
employees’ health and safeguard their safety interests. Under this legislation, an
organisation is bound to provide a written code to every employee who has been

working with an organisation since last 5 years. In addition, they need to organise
training sessions and conduct workshops, which are required for their business.
According to Daley (2016), training can be classified into the following kinds:
1. Ongoing- The existing employees are provided with training in order to learn the use
and skills of the new equipments.
2. Handbook- This is published to the staff of a specified organisation.
3. Induction- New employees are notified about the working of a specific company or
organisation.
4. Notices- The issuing of caution signs and drill procedures are maintained in the
notices’ section.
5. Demonstrations- The demonstrations consist of evaluation drills and fire drills.
6. Representative- The development of health role and safety representative is followed
in this measure.
7. Advice- Providing advice sessions regularly by the health and safety officers.
2.2 Analysing the regulations relative to equality
Equality defines the fact that everyone must be treated equally. According to the tourism
industry, everyone must be treated equality irrespective of any gender, race, age or disability.
Goods and services must be provides equally to everyone related to the organisation.
Discrimination is considered as a legislation of refusing a service or providing lower grades
to the service. The Equality Act, 2010 follows the regulation of treating every individual
equally without any inconsistencies. This act is a combination of many other acts such as The
Race Relations Act, 1976; Employment Equality (Sexual orientation) Regulations, 2003;
Disability Discrimination Act, 1975; Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, 2006; Sex
Discrimination Act, 1975; Equal Pay Act, 1970; Equality Act Regulations, 2007; Equality
Act, 2006 and Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations, 2003 (Chen and Law,
2016). These acts were made to follow safety measures regarding race discrimination,
disability discrimination and inequality among employees. Hence, these discriminations can
be categorised under the following legislations. They are as follows:
1. Indirect- The group of persons if mistreated or not provided with certain facility falls
under the indirect source of discrimination.
2. Direct- This discrimination is found when according to the law some other person
treats a person unequally.

3. Harassment- Whenever a person is victimised due to unwanted behaviour or any sort
of denial; it is then termed as harassment discrimination.
4. Perceptive- This discrimination occurs when a person is judged based on their
distinct character.
5. Disability- A person if possess a dysfunctional body that is unable to be fixed or
treated, the disability discrimination occurs on this basis.
Therefore, serving the discriminated people on the basis of their employment has provided
ways such as retention, compensation or on the basis of harassment is the main objective of
the Health and Safety Commission (Camilleri, 2018). For instance- If a person has to face
any of the discriminations during the tour course that would affect, then that person can
obtain the above-mentioned remedies.

LO3 Describe consumer protection legislation
3.1 Illustration of contract legislation in relation to the customers in tourism sector
3.2 Explaining consumer protection legislations in relation to the customers

Leaflet
Describe consumer protection legislation
Illustrate contract legislation in relation to the customers in tourism
sector
Legislation, as well as the tourism industry, is related closely with each
other in any context. Different parties are engaged in tourism and travel
sector, such as customers and suppliers along with contractors. The role of
these legislation become significant to each, in case of individual parties are
involved in interaction with each other. Regarding various factor, this
attribute falls under regulatory and legal framework (Dowuona-Hammon,
2018). These factors may be involved in food quality as well as behavior
and hospitality. Tourism and travel industry is an ever-growing sector;
therefore, this covers some of the below-mentioned tourism legislation.
Tourism act, 1969: The focus area of this act is on various tourism
organizations along with their coordination. This is mentioned by the
“British Trust Authority” (Malala, 2018). This authority met to “English
Tourism Council” in order to form this act.
Transport act, 1980 & 1985: This act is involved in regulation and control
of private as well as national bus transport. Their routes are also covered by
this act. Over 30 miles of the tour and express coach routes are affected by
this law (Ömer Özkan and Karayazgan, 2016). The law of the year 1980
was terminated to license. This termination was increased furthermore and
this results from a competition of private bus with national bus companies.
Moreover, the routing system was de-regularised by 1985. This allows most
of the private buses operating in the entire route.
Package Travel and Tour Regulation, 1992: The control of this regulation
is on delivering specific responsibility to customers and tour operators. All
of the tour and tourism operators of UK should abide by the suggestions of
this regulation. The packaging consists of an arrangement of travel services.
This covers a period, which is more than one day (Zeija, 2018). At least two
of Transport, Accommodation and other tourism services such as transfer
are combined in this package.
In order to install tourism legislation, some of the objectives are mentioned
below.
● Standard process and procedures
● Improvement of tourism in a regulated and systematic manner
● Build obligations and right of organization's as well as
individual’s involvement
Some of the regulations are there those effects on tourism laws are stated as
below.
Health and Safety Commission: Regarding safety and security, this
commission requires uses to update regulations and laws.
International Air Transport Association: This law facilitates the
establishment of standards as well as policies for all tourism sectors in the
country.
Strategic Rail Authority: This act is involved in the division of all railway
sectors of the UK. this divides into two sectors, known as Rolling Stock
Companies and Rail Track.
Civil Aviation Authority: This act requires all update of laws as well as
regulations. Most of these regulations are regarding safety in aviation and
uses of airspace (Zharkenova and Kulmakhanova, 2015).
Excluding these, there are other laws covering the sea along with surface
and air transport.
Surface law: This act is authorized by “International Carriage of Passengers
by Road Act. This act protects all the rights of tourist passengers
(Antonaras, 2018). This involves in loss of passenger’s luggage.
Sea law: This contract law covers shipping security and safety. Moreover,
environmental factors are included in this enactment.
Health and Safety Commission: Regarding safety and security,
this commission requires uses to update regulations and laws.
International Air Transport Association: This law facilitates
the establishment of standards as well as policies for all tourism
sectors in the country.
Strategic Rail Authority: This act is involved in the division of
all railway sectors of the UK. This divides into two sectors,
known as Rolling Stock Companies and Rail Track.
Civil Aviation Authority: This act requires all update of laws as
well as regulations. Most of these regulations are regarding
safety in aviation and uses of airspace (Zharkenova and
Kulmakhanova, 2015).
Excluding these, there are other laws covering the sea along with
surface and air transport.
Surface law: This act is authorized by “International Carriage of
Passengers by Road Act. This act protects all the rights of tourist
passengers (Antonaras, 2018). This involves in lots of
passenger’s luggage,
Sea law: This contract law covers shipping security and safety.
Moreover, environmental factors are included in this enactment.
Explaining consumer protection legislation in relation to the
customers
This Consumer Protection Act is focused on rectification of all
traditional difficulties of customer’s law of the UK. This
consolidates individual eight pieces of legislation within a single
piece. This guideline was updated in the year 2015. During the
period 1980 to 1990, Uk becomes a partner of global trending
tourism sector. This exposed not only new problems but also
various products. In order to provide a safeguard to customers,
they introduced this act.
On the ground of the tourist industry, this is the formalization of
existing UK law. However, there are other changes related to the
unfair term as well as services. Moreover, this act introduced
effective changes based on activities of compensation law
(Palollo, 2017). A major part of this law is desired to enforce in
October of 2015. This act makes various changes in the
contractual relationship. This affects on the way of offering to
the customers. This is a great opportunity to review and
reconsider for businesses.
The Consumer Protection Act is involved in the application of
notices and contracts between two parties namely consumers
and traders. Customers can be considered as different activities
of purposes. These purposes are completely outside of trade,
craft as well as the profession and business of individuals. This
consideration is much important than the existing definition of
the UK and EU. The reason for this is, it includes members of all
parties within contract, who are involved in personal purpose.
On the other hand, traders can be identified as an acting person
for purposes of business as well as craft and trade, professions.
They can act through other trader persons or personally. The
others involved in this contract are known as trader’s behalf.
Public authorities and various government departments are
included in this definition.
Provision of this act is related to supply of their products and
services. This provision further applies along with different
industry-based regulations (Rogerson, 2015). The regulations
are imposed on various business sectors by the Financial
Conduct Authority. Intention of this provision is to fulfill
stricter requirement and duties.
Now, customers have specific statutory remedies to conform
to "repeat performance". Price reduction is also a statutory
remedy in case of the service cannot confirm. This remedy
depends on non-compliance level. These non-compliances
level are mentioned as below.
In case of a trader is involved in breach the duty in order to
provide the services, customers are entitled to perform this
repeatedly. This breach also includes opposing compilation
with information provided about service to customers.
In case of service or has not been performed in a given period,
customers can be entitled to price reduction of services. This
provision also includes the factor; traders are not involved in
compilation of information that is not related to service given
to the customer.